The present invention relates generally to rotatable buildings, and is particularly concerned with a service or utilities supply swivel joint apparatus and method for such a building.
Although rotating buildings such as restaurants have been constructed in the past, up to now there has been no effective and safe way to provide services utilities or services such as water, gas or electrical power from stationary lines into the rotating part of the structure. Typically, such services are provided in a fixed central portion of the building about which an outer portion rotates.
Some prior art references have proposed swivel structures for providing services within the rotating part of a building, but these are relatively complex and cumbersome, and would have problems in passing building safety codes. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,599,378 of Kachnic and U.S. Pat. No. 3,636,975 of Kirkman both describe utility arrangements for rotating buildings. In Kachnic, a rotatable hollow support column is rotatably mounted on a fixed pedestal and extends upwardly through the building so as to rotate with the building. Various rotary T and L joints are provided for connecting fixed portions of the gas and water pipes with portions which rotate with the building. This produces a relatively complex structure. In Kirkman, a chamber member is fixed to a stationary base, and a cover member for the chamber member rotates with the building. The chamber and cover are provided with various opposing annular formations of generally U-shaped form or opposing partial chambers to which the fixed conduits and rotating conduits, respectively, are connected. This provides for waste material discharge, gas supply, and water supply. Again, this is relatively complex and would probably not pass building codes. It also does not provide for electrical connections into the building.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,353,608 of Massau describes a system of collectors for passage of fluids and electrical cables into and out of a rotatable dwelling. Each collector is generally annular in shape, comprising an inner fixed ring and an outer rotating ring rotatably connected together to define an annular chamber between them.
Another problem with existing swivel structures for rotatable buildings is hat the seals between rotating portions of the swivel are subject to potential failure. There is no means of effectively detecting such failure other than by taste or appearance of the water supply, for example.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved swivel joint apparatus and method for supplying utilities to a rotatable building.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a swivel joint apparatus is provided for supplying utilities to a rotating building rotatable about a central axis, which comprises an inner, fixed spindle for securing to a fixed base of the rotatable building to extend co-axially with a central axis of rotation of the building, the spindle having a series of spaced, outwardly projecting annular flanges defining a series of annular chambers between each adjacent pair of flanges, each flange having an outer peripheral edge and at least one ring seal mounted on the peripheral edge of each flange, the flanges having a predetermined outer diameter, and an outer casing rotatably mounted on the spindle for securing to part of the rotating building, the casing having an inner diameter substantially equal to the outer diameter of the flanges, the casing forming an outer wall of each of the annular chambers and being in rotatable sealing engagement with each of the ring seals to seal the chambers. The spindle has a lower end wall with a plurality of ports for connection to fixed utility lines in the fixed base of the building for fluid supply to and from the building, and a bore extending from each port through the spindle to a respective annular chamber, with each chamber being connected to at least one port in the lower end wall. The outer casing has a series of axially spaced ports including at least one port communicating with each of the annular chambers.
In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, each flange has an outwardly directed, annular sensor chamber spaced outwardly from the ring seal, the outer casing has a plurality of holes including at least one hole aligned with each of the sensor chambers, and a plurality of fluid sensors are mounted in the outer casing to project through the respective holes to sense any leakage of fluid past any of the seals. The sensor outputs are connected to a control unit which indicates failure of any of the seals. The simple construction of the rotary utilities swivel assembly is such that it can be easily accessed for repair, simply by disconnecting the attached utility lines via suitable quick disconnect fixtures, and removing and replacing any malfunctioning seal. At least two sensors may be provided in each of the sensor chambers, so that seal failure will still be detected even if one of the sensors should fail.
At least four annular chambers may be provided on the spindle, and the chambers are of different sizes depending on the fluid to be passed through the chamber. The chambers may include a sewer chamber for transmitting waste from fixtures in the building to fixed sewer lines in the base, a gray water chamber for transmitting waste water from sinks, baths, showers and the like to gray water disposal lines in the base, a water chamber for supplying mains water to taps in various fixtures within the rotatable building, and a gas supply chamber for supply of gas to any gas fixtures in the building. Two ring seals may be provided on each annular flange which separates two adjacent chambers, with a sensor chamber between each pair of ring seals to detect leakage of fluid past any of the ring seals, the sensors in each sensor chamber between the gas supply chamber and adjacent chambers including both water sensors and gas sensors.
In an exemplary embodiment, an electrical swivel assembly is mounted on the upper walls of the spindle and outer casing, the electrical swivel assembly comprising a fixed contact core mounted on the upper wall of the fixed spindle and an outer rotating contact portion mounted on the upper wall of the outer casing, the spindle and contact core having aligned central through bores for passageway of fixed electrical power supply lines from the base of the building to the contact core, and the outer contact portion having contacts for connection to power supply lines supplying power to fixtures within the rotating building. A separate rotary electrical connector may be mounted on the electrical swivel for supply of electrical signals such as telephone, television, cable, computer, e-mail and Internet to and from the rotating building, the rotary connector having a fixed part for connection to fixed electrical service lines extending through the aligned central through bores of the spindle and electrical contact core, and a rotary part rotatably mounted on the fixed part and having conductors for connection to electrical service lines within the rotating building, the fixed part being coupled to the inner contact core of the electrical swivel.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a method of rotatably connecting fixed utility lines beneath a rotatable building to corresponding utility lines secured within the building and rotatable with the building is provided, which comprises the steps of:
connecting a plurality of fixed utility lines in a fixed base of a rotatable building to inlet ports at the lower end of a fixed spindle secured to the fixed base and extending co-axially with the axis of rotation of the building, the spindle having a plurality of axially spaced annular chambers defined between annular flanges projecting outwardly from the spindle, each port being connected to a respective chamber;
connecting an outer casing rotatably mounted on the spindle to part of the rotating building so that the casing rotates with the building, the casing forming an outer wall of each of the annular chambers; and
connecting a plurality of utility lines secured within the rotatable building to respective ports in the outer casing, at least one port in the outer casing communicating with each of the annular chambers.
The swivel joint apparatus of this invention is very simple and compact in construction, yet allows for reliable connection of fixed utility lines in a fixed base of a rotatable building to corresponding utility lines mounted within the rotating part of the building. The seal and sensor arrangement allows any leakage of fluids past a seal to be detected, avoiding or reducing the risk of different fluids mixing together without knowledge of the occupants of the rotatable building. This swivel joint apparatus therefore enables a rotatable building to meet stringent building codes more readily.